Essential Question

Opportunities in America: What kind of opportunities does this person see in America that he/she did not have in the homeland?

Words to look for

Background Information

In many countries, including the Philippines, people care for sick or elderly family members in their home, rather than placing them in a hospital or nursing home setting. In the Philippines they are able to do this through hiring household help, which is a very common practice. Many immigrants wish they could continue these traditional practices in their new home, but this narrator was glad for the professional medical help he was able to obtain for his wife.

Transcription

VA: She passed away here in Minnesota. At that time, we were still living in Bloomington. And then, my wife got that disease, Alzheimer’s disease.

LM: That’s tough.

VA: I take care her more than a year at home. I take care by myself. The nurse used to visit and recommended that I had to talk to my family to have a short meeting about putting her in the nursing home, because it’s hard for me if I get sick. So we had the meeting, and we agreed and put her in the nursing home. There, she pass away in almost only three months.

LM: Let me ask you, Papang Torin, if you were in the Philippines and she was sick, the same health problem, we have no nursing homes in the Philippines. Where would she be?

VA: Well, you know, in the Philippines, if we are in the Philippines, we can get a lot of Filipinos over there and we can hire, you know, we call it like a maid, you know. We can hire. But it’s better here, because we get everything, you know.